8 Must-Have MAC Neutral Eyeshadows

About the Temptalia Must-Haves Series

A series of posts showcasing must-have products from MAC Cosmetics’ permanent line of products. Selections are based on quality, universality, uniqueness amongst the line, and the like. Limited edition shades are deliberately excluded to make buying easier.Readers’ comments act as a supplement to these lists of their favorites and must-haves. You can find the entire series here.

Shroom eyeshadow is a soft, lightly shimmered beige color. It is great for an all-over wash on the lid for the ultra neutral look, but it also makes for an excellent brow bone highlighter for just about any look. It is an essential for any one looking for neutral shadows.

Ricepaper eyeshadow is a smooth, shimmery peachy beige that can instantly brighten your look. It’s great to highlight the brow bone or the inner tear duct, and of course, it makes an awesome lid color, too.

Wedge eyeshadow is a matte, muted taupe. Mattes make for excellent neutral colors, because they can be used in so many ways. They’re perfect for giving any look more depth when used in the crease, and the contrast between finishes is often one way to add complexity to your look, too.

Bronze eyeshadow is a rich, deep chocolate-bronze shade with lots of shimmer. It’s gotta be one of my favorite shades of all-time, and I am constantly using it. It works well with other browns and neutrals, but it is easily paired with golds and greens, too. It’s a versatile shade with so much color pigmentation — I can’t imagine anyone not loving it.

What to Do With Beauty Products That Didn’t Work Out

As the old saying goes, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade,” the same is true about beauty products. There are many reasons why we don’t return products that don’t work out for us–poor return policies, guilt about returns, past return dates, etc. Besides giving products to friends/family or just letting them sit idle, here are a few ways to turn those lemons into beauty lemonade!

Got a moisturizer that broke you out? Your face is often far more sensitive than other parts of your body, so one of the best ways to make use of an acne-causin’ facial moisturizer is to use it on your body. Try using anti-aging products on your hands, which can always benefit from anti-aging ingredients often found in facial moisturizers. (Side benefits are often that facial moisturizers are fast-absorbing, non-sticky, etc. — all things you’d want in a good hand cream!)

Love glitter, but can’t figure out how to use it? Add some to your favorite hair gel/sculpting cream. Mix some in your hand, and then spread through your hair for a fun, glitzy hair-do. Try adding some to your favorite nail polish or make your own glitter polish.

Too much mineral makeup? If you have too much mineral makeup–like loose eye shadows–think about creating your own lip colors and nail polishes. Most mineral makeup is really just loose pigment, so you can combine it with a clear lip emollient (like vaseline or clear gloss), mix it up, and color up your lips.

Lipstick too pigmented, too dark, or too much? Tone any lipstick down by just applying it lighter (or blotting), but you can also combine with any lipgloss to alter the color.

Foundation that’s too thick or just a little too dark? Turn it into a tinted moisturizer! With the summer coming up, tinted moisturizers are a must-have for easy summer skin. In the palm of your hand, add a pea-sized amount of your favorite moisturizer to a few drops of your foundation, mix with a brush or sponge, and then apply it to your face. If you want, you can just use your hands to apply (like you would a normal face cream).

Mascara too clumpy, flakey, or just not what you want? Try using the brush from a mascara you do like to see if that helps the formula stay on/work better. If it’s just not happening, try using it as liquid liner.

Get Sunkissed Without the Risk: Try Clinique

Clinique Sun SPF 30 Face Cream9$17.50 for 1.7 oz.) is a newly launched product by Clinique as part of their suncare line. It uses “SolarSmart” technology, which is meant to stabilize high-level protection against aging and burning effects from both UVA and UVB rays. There are solar-activated antioxidants to help prevent visible damage to the skin.

Okay, so sounds like there are some fancy schmancy ingredients in this product, right? I can’t really tell you about preventing aging or skin damage (how am I going to know? it’s usually on such a micro-level, you can’t see any visible damage for years!), but I do want to tell you about how it feels, applies, and works as a facial sunscreen, because that’s really why I wanted to try it! It’s a fairly thick cream, but you actually don’t use very much when you go to apply it. I do find that on normal to dry skin, you may want to use your normal moisturizer in conjunction, rather than instead of. With oilier skin, you may find that just this is perfect.

With SPF 30, this face cream is a good choice for everyday wear. You get good coverage for both UVA and UVB. It’s a blend of avobenzone (broad spectrum UVA), ethylhexylsalicylate and homosalate (UVB abosrbers), oxybenzone (broad spectrum UVA & UVB), and octrocrylene (UVB and short UVA). It is always a good idea to look for a sunscreen with ingredients that protect you from both the UVA and the UVB spectrums. (Check out our Sunscreen 101 post, so you know which ingredients do what!)

The packaging is sleek and fun–the yellow is perfect for summer–and the tube technology means less exposure to light and dirty fingers. The product itself feels lightweight when applied, and it doesn’t have any greasy or oily feel either (very important!). It takes makeup well, and it doesn’t leave a whitish cast when it’s dry. It didn’t cause me to breakout, and I seemed pretty sweat-resistant, too. I like the price tag, because I feel a tube should last me at least a month of daily wear, perhaps even a little longer.